


Teamwork Makes The 'We' Work

by whydontyouallf_fadeaway



Category: Strike Back
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-26 23:14:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17755334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whydontyouallf_fadeaway/pseuds/whydontyouallf_fadeaway
Summary: When Katrina is shot in the leg by Gopan, and no immediate treatment available, Chetri tries her best to patch her up while Alex finds a safe place to drive to. But when the rest of the team become involved in a hostage situation, Alex, Katrina and Manisha have to work together to help them. But with the sexual tension between Zarkova and Coltrane brewing, can they keep their cool?Set directly after end of episode 3.





	1. Just A Flesh Wound

Both Alex and Manisha heard the single gunshot but initially thought nothing of it. They waited in the car for as long as they could but Katrina didn't return and Alex wasn't prepared to leave her behind. He stepped out, gun close by and he tracked his steps, “Zarkova?” he called with a harsh whisper as he scoured the immediate area. In his head, Alex recalled the gunshot and tried to follow where he heard it from, despite it echoing around him. He had a feeling he was close and decided to keep moving, “Zarkova?!” he called again with the same harsh tone.

When he rounded the corner, she was layed out on the floor blood seeping from a small hole in her trousers and down onto the wet floor below. She shoved his gun around his back, sliding it around by it's strap and rushed over to her. She was conscious but groaned with the pain, moving to try and hold her leg.

“No, no, don't touch it.” he ordered as he grabbed her hand away. Zarkova groaned again in pain, trying to sit up, but Alex held a firm grip on her shoulder. “Look at me.” he requested and she obeyed.

Looking at him, she watched as he scanned over her face, not wanting to look away from her. “I'm fine, it's just a flesh wound, nothing serious.” she informed, followed by a little chuckle. Alex had to restrain the smile he felt creeping on his lips at her little laugh so he glanced his eyes down to the hole in her leg, trying to determine it's severity on a look. “Though it still hurts like a bitch.”

This time, he couldn't help but let out a little chuckle with her, and they found themselves drawn to each other again, but they knew now wasn't the time. Neither of them knew when it was, if it ever would be, but they needed to get away from the area and fast so Alex checked behind him and looked around before standing up. She looked up at him and frowned for a moment before he crouched down and took her arm to wrap around the back of his neck. “Keep your weight off it.” he urged and she hopped her weight onto her good leg, using the Colonel for support.

He held her hand that was draped over his shoulder, and his other hand settled lightly on her hip to help guide her slowly forward to the car. Chetri shuffled across to the next seat before he lowered Katrina down slowly through the doorway and onto the seat. The Lance Corporal immediately tried her best with the Captain's wound but she had no first aid to hand, the bags with her full of their essential equipment. Alex set off and began to drive as he took off his shirt, leaving only a bright white vest underneath.

“Rip that up; tie some of it tightly around her leg, it should stop the bleeding.”

Chetri quickly took it off him and proceeded to follow his instructions ripping off a sleeve from Alex's blue shirt and tying it around the injured soldier's leg. She groaned in pain again, and Chetri briefly looked up to her, “Sorry.” she said, her hands trembling from the shock and adrenaline coursing through her body. 

She had manage to bound her leg tightly enough to stop the bleeding while Alex drove around until he got word of a safe place for them to go. This wasn't their country, much less their jurisdiction so it was down to others above his pay grade in Britain and local law enforcement to find him a safe house to settle into.

Opening the bag, Chetri took out her laptop and securely managed to get back in touch with the team. “The Crib's been compromised, we are trying to sort out a new location. Until then, lose any tails you may have and you will be sent coordinates to a new location when we have them.” Alex informed, unsure whether any of them were receiving his words. “Is anybody receiving me? Come in Bravos.”

Alex pulled over at the side of the road, not feeling able to drive further on without establishing contact with his team. He turned around and looked to his Lance Corporal who was typing furiously away on the keys. Clenching his jaw, he tried to keep his calm, but he could feel the nerves and worry build up inside of him. “Sir, there's nothing.”


	2. Safe House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything in this fic, specifically from this point likely won't follow much of episode 4 as all of this was in my head before I watched the episode.

“Bravos, come in.”

There was still no response and Alex felt himself grip the steering wheel tightly until his tips began to numb. In his head, he felt the need to let out his anger, but he knew that control was his only option right now. He took a moment to compose himself before driving the car off and around until he got any location of somewhere to go.

Alex felt lost, even when surrounded by members of his team. Whenever he felt himself lose control, he reminisced of being in semi retirement and wondered why he even allowed himself to be pulled into this job after the last time he was in command of a team. 

Chetri's laptop beeped and a message with simple numbers arrived. She searched them on the map, “It's the safe house. Take a left here.” she informs him and he does just that. “Down this alleyway.”

Alex again listened to her directions. The alley came to a complete dead end and he was beginning to lose patience. He looked back at her, but she looked confident in her direction and her look was enough to convince him to trust her. Chetri got out of the vehicle and went over to the door while Alex helped Katrina out and held her close to keep her steady.

Counting the bricks up the wall, Manisha stopped and removed the fake front from the wall to reveal a keypad. Pressing the numbers she read from her mobile the door opened and Alex helped Katrina in before returning back outside to help his Lance Corporal with the rest of the equipment. After handing some things to her, Alex kept thinking he could hear a noise so he gripped the gun holstered behind his back and rushed inside with a little panic rising in his chest.

He was paranoid at being watched, worried that Gopan's men could track them no matter what and he was certain that they had been followed. He wasn't sure how, but he felt it in his gut. He shut the door, and barricaded it shut with the metal barrier that was to be used. Following the girls upstairs, he let Chetri set up her equipment and went over to Katrina who was groaning in pain. “Take it easy.” he said, placing his hand on her shoulder. She began to tug at Alex's shirt sleeve that was tied around the leg and he grabbed her hand, “Okay, okay, I'm going to take the bullet out, just hold on.”

Looking around the room, he got up, checking the cupboards for a first aid kit, anything that would make it easier. Chetri didn't have the tools to do so in the car, and Alex had very little to work with, but he knew it was something he had to do.

In another cupboard, he found some Whiskey and brought everything to the floor. He sat down, legs crossed and brought Katrina's leg on top of his crossed knees, “Have you got some tweezers?” he asked as he examined the wound and Katrina shook her head but Chetri had some in her bag so handed them to him. 

“I'll boil some water, you'll need to sterlise them.” Chetri said as she got up and took a pot from the shelf and filled it with water before placing it on the hob of the oven.

She brought it to him and he nodded a thanks before dipping the open end of the tweezers into the water, “You're going to want some of this.” he told her after unscrewing the lid of the whiskey with his teeth and handing her the bottle. Katrina took a large swig, while Alex took the opportunity to put the tweezers in the hole in her leg in order to try and fish out the bullet. He could see a little twinkle from it, he just had to grab hold of it and get it out.

“Fuck!” Katrina groaned as the tweezers wear digging further into the hole in her flesh.

Alex looked up to her, “Sorry.” he strained before bringing the tweezers out, with the bullet in the claws. She took another large shot of the spirit before Alex took it off her, “This will hurt.” he warned before pouring some of the whiskey onto her leg. Katrina was strong, but even this was like nothing she had ever felt before.

In his belt, he pulled out a knife and a lighter. He put as much heat as he could onto the knife blade with it and looked at her again. Zarkova gave a nod, knowing what was coming but she knew she had no choice but to bear it as much as she possibly could. The burning hot blade was pressed to her skin, and through gritted teeth, she dealt with it, grabbing hold of whatever she could in her reach; in this case, the worktop of the kitchen.

Removing the blade, he immediately took some bandage and wrapped it around her leg once more to keep the bleeding steady. She felt reluctant to move away from him, but now he was done, she knew she had to. There was something playing on her mind, but Alex wasn't sure whether he should push it, or leave her alone. He wasn't the type of person to deal with emotions very well, and neither was she but he wondered if together, it would work better than he thought. “He could've killed you, Katrina.” he said before lowering his head licking his lips.

She shook her head, “He didn't want to kill me.” she replied, “He had that gun pointed at my head, and shot my leg instead; he wanted me immobilised, not dead.” she admitted and he looked to her. There was a deep sadness in his eyes, and she tried to ignore it; to her, it was like she was accepting some kind of pity by showing any of the sadness he did when he looked at her. Alex, however, felt an attachment to her, something he had never really felt. She was quirky, fun, a bit rebellious, and he liked that. “What do we do now?”

“We wait, hopefully the team will find their way to us once they have the location.”

Zarkova finally took her leg off of Alex's and they both shuffled on the ground to lean their backs against the kitchen cupboards. He placed his hand on her bandage and looked to her which made them share a smile. Neither of them aid anything, she just turned her head back and rested it on his shoulder. She didn't sleep, none of them did, she just needed a little rest and Alex allowed that as he needed her back out there.


End file.
